It has only been two weeks since I packed up my Leica M9 and sent to Leica, New Jersey. I detected the first signs of cover-glass corrosion about 3 weeks ago. Today the repairman notified me that the M9 was on its way back to me. The invoice confirms that Leica replaced the sensor, did a full-CLA on the camera, and provides a 1-year warranty on the camera for a flat-rate that was less than anticipated. My M Monochrom had sensor corrosion earlier on, the M9 is almost 8 years old. I don't mind the cost of repair, it is about 25% of the true cost of buying a new KAF-18500 through DigiKey without the labor cost. I plan on keeping this camera for as long as possible.
Anyway- if anyone else has an M9 in need of repair, I suggest that now is a good time. I've read elsewhere that replacement costs may be going up. Leica New Jersey must have a supply of KAF-18500s. OnSemi now only sells them to Leica. They were ~$4000 each through Digikey. Too funny. It cost $40,000 for the detectors in my first Digital Imager. That one had 32 pixels, was an Infrared "Scanning Sensor". Prices have dropped since 1982 and pixel density has increased. Plus you don't have to write all your own image processing software to see an image.
Anyway- if anyone else has an M9 in need of repair, I suggest that now is a good time. I've read elsewhere that replacement costs may be going up. Leica New Jersey must have a supply of KAF-18500s. OnSemi now only sells them to Leica. They were ~$4000 each through Digikey. Too funny. It cost $40,000 for the detectors in my first Digital Imager. That one had 32 pixels, was an Infrared "Scanning Sensor". Prices have dropped since 1982 and pixel density has increased. Plus you don't have to write all your own image processing software to see an image.